According to recent studies, owners of portable electronic devices now spend on average more than three hours each day using their device. Moreover, these interactions are no longer simply voice calls; users now plan, purchase, play, and schedule on their devices as well. Rather than slowly multitasking via several devices, or being forced to use a traditional PC platform for long periods of time, users can now quickly handle many smaller tasks on a single device during lulls in other activities.
However, portable electronic devices generally require battery power, and most portable electronic devices are therefore configured to automatically lock or go idle after a certain period of disuse in order to save battery power. As such, the user must generally unlock the device each time they wish to begin a new task or to finish a task that was partially executed previously, and each unlocking interaction costs time. The sheer number and frequency of discrete user interactions each day mean that any access delays can accumulate to a significant loss of productivity over the course of the day.
While the present disclosure is directed to a system that can eliminate some of the shortcomings noted in this Background section, it should be appreciated that any such benefit is not a limitation on the scope of the disclosed principles, nor of the attached claims, except to the extent expressly noted in the claims. Additionally, the discussion of technology in this Background section is reflective of the inventors' own observations, considerations, and thoughts, and is in no way intended to accurately catalog or comprehensively summarize the prior art. As such, the inventors expressly disclaim this section as admitted or assumed prior art with respect to the discussed details. Moreover, the identification herein of a desirable course of action reflects the inventors' own observations and ideas, and should not be assumed to indicate an art-recognized desirability.